Rebuilding ruins
by Power Winter
Summary: The wizarding world is in ruins. Who is going to rebuild it? And how? This is the story of how the wizarding community pulled themselves up by their bootstraps and rebuild the world for the next generation.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Disclaimer: I, sadly, don't own anything.

~ Chapter 1 ~

Harry woke up. It took him a moment to realize that the fighting was done. That he didn't have to risk his life or the life of those he loved. No more losses, no more pain. He suddently remembered all the deaths he had not been able to stop. Colin, Fred, Tonks, Remus... He knew there were countless others he didn't know who had risked their lives for him. He couldn't just lay here, he had to go down and meet the relatives of the people who died for him.

He stood up and saw that he was wearing his old pajamas. How weird... He didn't even remember putting them on. He looked at the chair next to him but saw that his dirty, blood covered clothes weren't there. Instead a nice pair of dark blue jeans and a Gryffindor red shirt lied on the chair. Under them stood his pair of sneakers but they didn't look like the ones he had been wearing the past year, these ones were cleaner and didn't look as used as they used too.

When he was dressed and somewhat presentable he walked out of his old dorm. He walked down the stairs and down to the common room. On the couch closest the burned out fire he could see a mop of beautiful fire red hair. Ginny. She looked so peaceful in her sleep and he could hear her small steady breathing. Without realizing he had walked over to the couch, he wanted to wake her and just hold her in his arms forever. No, now was not the time. Time. They actually had time now. A luxury they had never had before. He pulled himself together and told himself that he would explain everything later.

He walked the rest of the way down to the Great Hall. He couldn't help but feel guilty when he saw the state of the castle. It was in ruins and it was all his fault. When he reached the Great Hall he could see one of the huge double doors hanging on its hinges. He spotted Kingsley, Mrs. Weasley, Fleur and Professor McGonagall at the other end of the room and walked over to them.

When Mrs. Weasley saw him she gave him the biggest hug she could muster – and that's saying something. Harry felt like all his already badly bruised ribcage yell out in pain and he could see small dark spots covering his vision. He didn't want to disrespect his adoptive mother, especially since he had caused her so much pain, so he just winced silently. Professor McGonagall must have noticed because she quickly rushed to his rescue. "Molly! You're crushing him!" Mrs. Weasley released him and immediately began apologizing. "Oh sweet Merlin! I am so sorry Harry, dear. Please forgive me! Are you alright, dear? I didn't mean to crush you."

Harry tried to tell her that it was alright and that he wasn't hurt, much, but he couldn't get the words out. Instead he just nodded at her and focused on getting his breathing back in to normal. Kinsley raised his dark voice over Mrs. Weasley constant apologies. "I think there is something Harry isn't telling us. Fleur, I know you've been helping Madame Pomfrey maybe you could help Harry here too?" Fleur looked at Kingsley and nodded. "Oh oui bien sur. 'Arry can I zee your woundz pleez'?" Harry had just gotten his breathing back to normal and stuttered. "W-what? No, I'm fine. You should take care of everyone else first, I don't need to-" But before Harry could finish Professor McGonagall interrupted him. "Harry James Potter! You will let Fleur heal you right now or Merlin forbid I will give you detention for 6 months!" Harry was so stunned by Professor McGonagalls outburst that he actually laughed, all the pain and suffering forgotten for a moment. "You can't give me detention professor, I'm not your student anymore." Professor McGonagall send him a glare worthy of Mrs. Weasley and said "Try me."

Harry realized that he would never win this fight so he let Fleur heal him. He took off his shirt and everyone gasped. Fleur was the first one to voice their horrified expressions. "Sacré Bleu, w'at 'appened tou you?" Harry was shocked. He knew he had gathered his fair share of bruises and scars, but he didn't think he looked /that/ bad. He was wrong. He did. Harry looked down at his torso and saw a million tiny cuts and at least 10 smaller bruises. On his chest was a medallion formed bruise that would soon turn into a scar. That must have been where the locket had burned into his skin that night after Godric's Hollow. On his rib cage he could see a small bruises forming and when he pressed the biggest one, a jolt of pain ran through his body. Apparently his ribs had endured so much the past year that Mrs. Weasleys bone crushing hug broke one or two of his ribs.

Fleur got to work. She mumbled spells and small French curses for whenever he would wince and when a wound was specifically hard to heal. She worked like that for an hour or two and only got interrupted when Mrs. Weasley or McGonagall would ask her if he was going to be okay. After some time, Harry didn't know how much, Fleur stretched and announced that he was going to okay and there was nothing more she could do.

She had barely uttered these words when a high pitched shriek came from the other end of the room "HARRY JAMES POTTER!" A furious redheaded woman stormed over to the group. She had hazelnut colored eyes and they were right now giving Harry a death glare that Mrs. Weasley would have been proud of. "You have a hell of lot of explaining to do, mister! Start talking!" Harry suddenly felt like he was 5 inches tall. "G-g-ginny… Hi… H-how are you…?" In the background Harry could hear Kingsleys dark voice chuckling. "He shows no fear against the most powerful Dark Lord of all time, but he's terrified of a 16-year old girl." "A 16-year old /Weasley/ girl, Kingsley. Weasley women have quite the wrath." Professor McGonagall replied knowingly. She knew how skilled Ginny was with her bat boogey hexes and she had seen several times how Mrs. Weasley had made her 6 tall sons quiver in fear in front of her when they had done something wrong.

While they had been talking Ginny had been yelling at Harry and when that wasn't enough she began pounding her tiny fists into his newly healed chest. With each hit she cursed like her words alone could put him through endless agony. "How. Could. you. DO THIS. To. Me?! I. Thought. You. Were. DEAD! I. Thought. I. Had. LOST YOU! You. Let. Me. BELIEVE. That. You. Were. DEAD! Why?! WHY. Do. You. Always. Have. To. Save. The. World. Before. Yourself!" It seemed liked her anger had gone from yelling to hitting and then to crying. Ginny wasn't the one to cry easily so he knew he had hurt badly when Voldemort had announced that he was dead. Harry didn't know what to do or what to say to make her pain go away. In the end he just hugged her. He tried to put all his emotions and feelings for her into that one hug. He held her while she was crying and soothingly stroked her messy red hair.

That was the turning point for Harry. He knew that things may look bad now and they may never get over the losses and the pain this war had put them through but, with time, things would get better. He could finally see a bright and happy future for Ginny. For him. For them.


	2. Chapter 2

**Authors note: Thank you so much for everyone who favorited, reviewed or/and added this story to their story alert. It means a lot since this is my first story. And sorry if this chapter is a little short...**

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**~ Chapter 2 ~**

They sat on the floor in the Great Hall while Ginny cried out all the tears she had wanted to shed since Bill and Fleurs wedding. She had wanted to stay strong for Harry and for her family but now it was like someone had turned on the faucets she had been trying to so hard to keep closed.

After a while her crying turned to silent sobs and Harry decided that it was time to move away from the prying eyes that had started to gather around them. He lifted her up bridal style – ignoring all the still aching muscles – and walked back up to the Gryffindor Tower. The Fat Lady let him in without the password ("You've done such wonderful things for this school! It's the least I could do!") and Harry sat down in what used to be their favorite chair. "The last thing I saw before the killing curse hit me was your face, Ginny. You were laughing and your brown eyes shone with happiness. I thought that if that's what the consequences of my sacrifice would be, I would gladly pay them."

It seemed to take some time for Ginny to find her voice, but when she finally spoke she said with a small voice. "I'm happy when I'm with you, Harry." She looked up at him with her puffy eyes and red nose. To Harry she had never looked more beautiful. He looked down and met her eyes. "I'm so sorry I hurt you. I needed to know that you would be safe, before I could do what I had to do." "I know. You always have some really stupid noble reason for everything." She lied her head down on his chest and Harry hugged her tighter. Time past as they got lost in the flames in the fireplace. The house-elves must have gone back to the work again. Ginny was the first to break the silence. "What happened?" Harry took a deep breath. She didn't need to clarify what she meant; he knew she was asking about. What he hadn't told anyone, except Ron and Hermione. But even they didn't know the full story. They didn't know what he had seen in Snapes memories. They didn't know why Harry had sacrificed himself for them. They didn't know who he met at King's Cross. He had to tell them all. The Weasleys, Hermione… They deserved it. They were the ones who had supported him through everything. "I promise I'm going to tell you everything."

Harry lifted his head and called out in the open. "Kreacher." A little, old, wrinkly house-elf with a medallion hanging loosely around his neck appeared. The little elf did a bow so deep his nose touched the ground. "Master Harry." Harry smiled at the elf who had been so brave during the battle. "Harry is fine, Kreacher. Could you please go down to the Great Hall and tell the Weasleys and Hermione to come up here? That would be much appreciated." Kreacher stood up and looked at Harry with pride. "Mast-Harry defeated the bad wizard Voldemort. He freed this world from all the evil. Kreacher will go get the Weasleys and the muggleborn." "Thank you, Kreacher. Oh and Kreacher? Thank you for your bravery in the battle. Master Regulus would have been proud." Kreachers big eyes filled with tears at the mention of his beloved Regulus. With one loud pop he disappeared to fulfill Harrys order. Ginny looked confused at the place where Kreacher had disappeared. "What was that all about? Since when did he become nice?" Harry chuckled warmly and kissed the top of her head. "I'll tell you when everyone's here." Ginny seemed pleased with that answer and they drifted off to another comfortable silence.

The first to go through the portrait hole was Ron dragging a blushing Hermione behind him. He was about to say something to make Hermione blush even more, when he noticed Harry and Ginnys position in front of the fire. "Oi! Keep your hands of my baby sister, Potter! You may be the savior of the world, but doesn't give you the right to mess around with her again!" Ginny rolled her eyes and Harry grinned. Hermione let out an exhausted sigh. "Ron! Let them reunite." She squeezed the hand she was holding and Rons ear turned pink. He managed to stutter "O-o-oh right fine. But don't get any ideas, Potter. I'm watching you." He pointed two fingers at himself and then at Harry. Harry laughed, "Don't worry. I'm terrified." The next to go enter the common room were Mr. and Mrs. Weasley. Mr. Weasley went over to hug his daughter and shake hands with Harry, but Mrs. Weasley seemed reluctant to hug either of them out of fear that she might hurt someone again. Ginny seemed to notice and said. "Mom, it's okay. We're fine. Harry's almost all healed up and –" She didn't have time to finish her answer before her mother gave her the same bonecrushing hug she had given Harry early that day. Luckily for Ginny she had learned to breathe with very little air over the years, so she managed to wrestle her mother off of her before anything broke.

Meanwhile the rest of the Weasley family had quietly entered the common room and sat in different chairs. George was just sitting in a chair, staring absentmindedly into nothing while silent tears ran down his cheeks. He looked like he had gone through the most agonizing fiery hells on earth and he had lost a part of him there. Percy was backed up in the farthest corner of the room, trying to melt into the wall. Bill had his head in his wife's lap while she was stroking his hair. Fleur looked beautiful as always, but with a certain sadness this time, like a phoenix's mourning song.

Harry moved his and Ginnys chair around so they could face everyone. "You are the people that mean the most to me and I'm sorry for all the pain I've caused you." Everyone started to argue that it wasn't his fault and that he was the one to save them all but Harry cut them all off. "I owe you an explanation. I owe you all an explanation to where Ron, Hermione and I've been all year and what we have been doing."


End file.
